Should wear a mask when ripping up the asbestos floor tiles. Older trailers, especially 60's trailers and earlier, are almost all filled with mouse contaminated insulation. Almost all the trailers are filled with serious contamination. Be very aware of the odor that is coming from it, especially in wet or damp weather, where those odors can become quite strong. Recommend any trailer with this type of contamination be completely torn apart, removing interior wall panels, including under pan area, to eliminate all contaminated materials.

This is a simple note to all Airstream and trailer owners of the very serious health risk posed by Hanta virus. This disease is common in contaminated homes and work places [ESPECIALLY older buildings, as well as old trailers] where rodent activity, particularly stool, urine and bodies have been left, especially in contaminated wall and ceiling cavities. Use caution not to stir up and breath dust, or touch surfaces with bare hands.

Finished ripping out the back half with the bed/couch removed and now onto the street side of the trailer. Removed the princess stove and started figuring out my plan of action. As you can see, more dirt and grunge from camping and hunting in the mountains of Montana.

I thought that when I initially went through the trailer I removed all the stuff (garbage, old tools, etc.) but on the floor under the sink I found some old slides from 1975 or so. They are from Panama and the Island of Yap. The slides have "natural" pictures of Darien Indians and natives of that area. Wondering if perhaps any Wally caravan went to Panama around this time?! Anybody?

I like to think timing is everything. Just by chance I saw an ad on Craigslist late last night for the annual garage sale at the largest RV center for this morning. This RV center is just huge. I'm a self-proclaimed money saving fool and am always on the hunt for the best deal possible. Friends and family make fun of me at times for the extreme I will go for a sweet deal. That's okay, my pocket book thanks me and so does my wife!

I was sure I would be fighting the crowds at the RV garage sale. I was wrong, the hard rains kept everybody away, I had the place to myself. My renovation trailer dreams came true, please don't hate me, I struggled to post this as I am a rather humble fella. Brand New Dometic Penquin Duo-Therm 15,000 BTU Air Conditioner Unit / Low Profile Model, retails for $1200+ ~ I bought it for a $100 bill.

Was a very slow weekend on the trailer. I am rather ambitious but like the rest of the country our town took on some major flooding due to rains. We have friends that cannot get back to Montana after the U2 concert in Denver as roads are closed or have been washed away. Our hearts are with the people of Joplin, Missouri ~ we have family that lives close by and this was a very scary storm.

Rain has stopped for a bit and a rather nice evening. Ready to change my scenery a bit and work on the outside of the trailer versus the inside. i"m going after the white painted roof with some aircraft paint remover. Brush it on and after about 5 minutes the paint would bubble. I used a plastic scraper to scrap the paint and then washed it off. Respirator and gloves a must when handling the remover. Yes, you are correct - my respirator is pink. My wife bought it and liked the color. Humbling and funny! I guess I have 2 girls in my life now, my wife and my trailer!

The difference on the trailer is amazing. You can clearly see that the new roof line is shiny and non-oxidized. It is apparent the paint was applied long time ago. In the picture you can also see the painted and non-painted surface along with the oxidization on the lower part of the trailer. I also removed a window drip cap to get ready for more exterior work.

Keep waiting for them to call me and say it was an accident or wrong price! One of those deals where I'm totally excited but also very humbled as I know this was a very rare deal. Off to a great start though.

Montana has had relentless rain and flooding the last 2+ weeks, been really tough seeing the destruction. While keeping the waters at bay, most of my down time has been making deals off Craigslist for parts, etc. that I need for the Cloud. I've also taken aim at the interior panels, slowly removing them and drilling out rivets. I'm documenting all the wiring and plumbing to have reference points should I need them.

My initial priority in the next couple weeks is to get panels off and start sealing up the Cloud, including removing and redoing the windows. I've just been waiting for Vintage Supply to get some of the window hardware fasteners in stock. Here's a timeless question: Do I replace the old glass with new glass? Anybody?

I don't know what most people do but we replaced the glass in our '59. When we tried removing the glass to clean up the windows we ended up breaking them. Now we have tempered glass with some UV protection. They look just like the old window glass with two (very small) exceptions:

1) The old glass was slightly wavy (like old glass can be)
2) There is faint window etching on the new glass in the corner. The window etching says that the glass is tempered. Our glass guy told us we couldn't get glass without etching.

Definately replace your glass. I had a guy volunteer to help push my trailer into the garage, but he put his hand thru the front window and had a 2,000.00 doctor visit and a nice big scar. A large piece of glass went into his arm about 6 inches. glass is relatively cheap and all of yours is flat and easy to work with. Measure twice before you go to your glass shop.